Love, Life, Him?
by MissSabs
Summary: She knew she had fallen in love with him, and she knew deep down that he loved her or so she thought. Was he really all he seemed to be? Could they really overcome the problems facing them when the faith in their realtion ship was gone? TXG
1. Murder Christy

**Hi! This is my first fanfic ever so I really want to know how I did. I know it's a bit short but it can only get better, right? Anyway, the basic concept of the story isn't actually mine. Ages ago I read a fanfic that I really liked but I couldn't remember it and I haven't seen it since. So I decided I would make my own version of it but right now I'm not sure if this is going to be a three/four shot or a multi-chapter. But please read and review :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or anything realted to High School Musical.**

Gabriella walked into East High. She could see Taylor standing waiting for her near her locker. She could also see Taylor glaring at Christy, Chad's new cheerleader girlfriend.

Chad and Taylor had broken up after Taylor had had enough of all the arguments between them two months back. It was kind of obvious that there was something deeper than a crush developing between them even if neither would admit it. Even after breaking up, the feelings were still evident.

Taylor was strong though and kept her feelings masked even if everyone strongly discouraged it. After what had been the worst summer vacation of her life, Taylor had found a new strength in her love of boxing. Gabriella did not understand where it came from but thanked God that at least now that Taylor's emotions would not get suppressed inside her, that she could vent them out and hopefully not have a emotional breakdown like Gabriella had seen over the summer.

"Hey Tay." No reply. "Hello!" Still no reply. "Come on Tay, snap out of it."

Taylor suddenly snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Gabriella. "Wow, hey, when did you get here?"

"Erm whilst you were thinking up a new plan to, I don't know, murder Christy?" Gabriella replied sarcastically.

"Oh yeah" she laughed nervously, "I'm just you know, annoyed, a bit... It's like she's the spawn of Satan, she's everywhere, mostly joined to His lips."

"Tay its okay, and yes it is really annoying how there always eating each others faces off" Gabriella made a face and thankfully Taylor laughed.

Gabriella opened her locker and saw it was exactly as she left it before summer, nice and neat. She also saw the picture of her and Troy and she silently wondered to herself if she should bother keeping it up or take it down.

Taylor could see her friend contemplating over something and once she saw where her eyes were, she could see Gabriella's frustration in her eyes.

"Have you made any progress with him yet?" Taylor asked.

Gabriella came out of her little bubble. "Er no. To be honest Tay, I haven't seen him for two weeks and even before that it was only spotting him down in the mall."

"Gabs, you two are meant for each other, at least now where back in school and you'll be seeing him a lot more though."

"Yeah, your right Tay, anyways, can you actually believe it, were seniors!" They two giggled as they walked to the admin area to pick up there new timetables and hopefully find out that they have a new home room.

**Really short but please read and review. Thanks xx**


	2. Er Gabs?

**So I thought about it and put up another chapter just to set the scene for everyone. I hope you enjoy!**

"Hey girls, how are you?" Miss. Richardson from admin asked Taylor and Gabriella.

"Were fine, thanks for asking. So I was wondering if we could have our timetables please" Gabriella asked.

"Certainly girls." Miss. Richardson looked through the bulging folder on her desks clearly marked "SENIOR TIMETABLES M-R" and took out two neat timetables and passed them to the girls.

The girls thanked her and exited the admin office. They looked down at their timetables. A sigh passed from both girls lips as they once again found that they were stuck with the over active and sometimes quirky drama teacher, Miss. Darbus for another year, but thankfully their last year.

After comparing timetables they found that they had every class together this year except Gym. "Well we're together in all the important subjects though Tay." Gabriella had said to an annoyed Taylor.

"Yeah, I guess... Er Gabs?"

"Yeah?" Gabriella looked up to see Taylor staring out in front of her and moved her head round to see what has caught the attention of Taylor.

At that moment Gabriella's heart stopped beating and her breath hitched in her throat. She knew exactly what to do with the picture in her locker now as right in front of her, standing with all his glory was The Troy Bolton with his arm around some cheerleaders mid riff and mouth at her ear. She could see the cheerleader giggling and Troy smirking. Gabriella felt sick, more than sick actually and before she could say something her legs reacted and she ran to the nearest door, thankfully it was a toilet.

Taylor followed her friend in. She couldn't see Gabriella so her first instinct was that she had locked herself into a cubicle. That was until she saw Gabriella with her head in between her knees on the floor. She was shaking her head slowly.

"What did I do Tay?" Gabriella looked up with questioning eyes.

"Gabs you didn't do anything. It's the jocks, there bastards, every single one of them." Taylor was kneeling in front of Gabriella.

"But still... I trusted him." Gabriella was surprised at how calm she was being, it must have been after all her talks with Taylor when Taylor had been moping around over Chad.

"Gabs its okay. He's being a blind cow, blind because he doesn't know what he's missing and a cow because all guys are." Taylor could see a small twitch on Gabriella's lips.

"Thanks Tay." Gabriella got up and dusted her pants. Gabriella was always the emotional type but still could not figure out why she had not busted out into hysterical sobs. Maybe because she still was not sure of what was going on and that Troy might have just been being a little bit too friendly with another girl and he had not realised? Gabriella's mind was split in two; maybe she wasn't that surprised as she ultimately knew that something like this could happen if you dates the school's notorious player. She ultimately decided she would rather not think about what she had witnessed earlier for the rest of the day.

"Tay would you mind not talking about... you know?" Gabriella asked with a shaky voice whilst she looked at Taylor pleadingly and Taylor finally agreed.

The two girls exited the toilets to find that there was a lot more people in the hallway than before and with a quick glance at the time determined that they should probably start there way to home room.

**Please read and review. Thanks xx**


	3. DARBUS!

**So I'm back... again... The inspiration for a bit of the plot actually came from the story "Troy and Gabriella", the bit about West High. Anyway I would really appreciate if people would review, thank you!**

Home room with Darbus. It only spelled out complete and utter boredom to the students of East High with all the talking of "the chapel of the arts" and "cell-phone abuse".

Surely it was the worst punishment available in East High. The actual students were very diverse. You would have the jocks dominating one side, the drama enthusiasts elsewhere, the brainiacs to the side and everyone else dispersed into the few spare seats.

It seemed that all the breaking down of status quo's last year had little effect on the new year as everyone reverted back to the usual way. The brainiacs went back to being knee deep in books, the skaters obsessing over their boards, the drama enthusiasts debating over the new play, and the jocks to say the least, talking about anything that fancied their interest.

Taylor and Gabriella walked in to find that most had found their seats including the jocks. They also saw that their seats had been left empty thankfully.

Troy looked up to see Gabriella looking around and when her eyes laid on him he gave her a small smile which she immediately returned.

Gabriella inwardly cursed herself for melting into those bright sapphire orbs she oh so loved. She walked towards her seat and sat down. She felt like she was in two worlds at once, the one outside with all the ruckus around and then her internal world where it was just her and her alone.

Gabriella found a refuge in her mind after her traumatic childhood. It had become her safe guard, had kept her sane over the years. Nobody had ever been allowed in until she met a certain boy with certain blue eyes. She finally found someone she could confide in about anything and everything. After that her refuge had become abandoned as it was no longer needed until now.

Suddenly a very brightly coloured woman with huge glasses- the size of baseballs- walked in. "Without any further adieu I would like to get this new academic year started people. I hope you had a splendid vacation and I hope that some of you will extend your wingspans of creativity and audition for the Fall Musicale," Darbus has officially arrived! Was all everyone could think of, " And I trust that we all were safe over the break. Students, there have been some rule changes in East High and I trust you will all abide by them." She looked around at all the confused faces before continuing, "From now on, seniors may go out to eat at lunch, I assume you find that, well... good, every Tuesday finishes an hour earlier until December as there is work in progress around school and finally, for most I assume this is bad news but over summer it seems like our sister school has been vandalised as you may have noticed and other atrocious deeds have been done to mutilate West High, so while the school is being refurbished, our dear Principal Matsui has agreed to take in half of the West High students up until October. So students do not fret, they will only be here until October, that's a month for those of you who can not count." The whole room was quiet; a pin could be heard dropping. Miss. Darbus looked at the vast array of students with their mouths gaping open.

"What!" "How!" "Why!" "When!" "NO!" was all that could be heard throughout the class. Everyone was turning round towards their neighbours asking various questions and looking dumbstruck on how this could have happened.

"People, people, quiet, quiet... Now I have already said this but for those of you who are short of hearing, we will be having extra students with us for a month. I hope you will treat them as your own and any misconduct towards them will lead to consequences. Understand?" Miss. Darbus looked around glaring at the students she thought would not be courteous towards their temporary students till she heard a chorus of "Yes's".

Before she could talk any more the bell went indicating for students to move to their next lessons. As they walked out the door, a number of "Oh this sucks!" and "Oh man"'s were heard.

**Remember Read and Review :p Thanks xx**


	4. Killing Me!

**Here again :p So how if everybody? Erm, you may find some odd words here and there, if you are reading this and do not live in the UK but you can always ask ;)**

The buzz over West High's temporary residency at East quickly died down by lunch as most students went towards the canteen as iNew York Deli was the special today.

Gabriella and Taylor bought their lunches and went to sit on an empty table near the stairs. Soon they were surrounded by Martha and Kelsi. While the rest engaged on a full on conversation over what colour they were going to wear to prom, Gabriella went into her refuge.

She wasn't thinking of much, just that her friends could talk a lot and when to break it to her girls that she had been accepted into Oxford University already. Apparently Oxford had heard of her and were looking for some of the brightest youths in the world for a special programme they were holding for a month in Autumn. They aimed to find the next Einstein or Einsteinette.

She was suddenly brought out of her world when Taylor was shoving a spoon in her face, trying to get her attention. "Oh, what?"

"Gabs I was just saying, me and the girls were going to the mall tonight, you want to come?"

"Yeah, sure sounds like fun." Gabriella smiled at her friends. She heard a high pitched noise then and saw the Drama Queen hyperventilating over a freshman who accidentally spilt some soda on her top. This brought back old memories for her as she remembered the day that she spilt her lunch on top of Sharpay, it brought a smile to her face.

She then heard her name being called out. She looked around but could not find the owner of the voice. Her name was then called out again, she was getting annoyed. She figured out it was the football jocks behind it as she could hear them snickering whilst looking at her. She decided to leave it.

Gabriella looked up at the sound of someone getting punched and saw Chad with his fist raised and Johnny, the captain of the football team, with a bleeding nose. Chad walked back to his table and sat back down with a frustrated look on his face yet a smirk. Gabriella noticed that Troy was sitting opposite him with an angry look on his face but she couldn't see his eyes, as his eyes showed his true emotions, due to two cheerleaders enclosing him. Again the cheerleaders. Gabriella could not understand why the cheerleaders had taken such a big interest in Troy, she knew that girls were falling at his feet but still, why this sudden interest in her Troy?

The girls finished their lunches while talking about some other trivial matter. They got up and threw their rubbish in the bins and Gabriella walked over to Chad with the rest of them behind her. "Thanks Chad." Chad looked up at her and smiled.

"No problem Gabster, you know you are the little sister I never had, instead I got two pesky little creeps who follow me round everywhere." This made Gabriella giggle. "Any guy who even looks at you in a weird way will need to answer to me Gabs. You got that?"

"Yeah." She then hugged Chad but then immediately leant away as his afro had nearly suffocated her. "Chad your afro's killing me, I hate it!"

"That hurt" Chad looked at Gabriella with a hurt expression. "My afro is what makes me, me Gabs and if you don't like it, deal with it." With that he turned his back to Gabriella.

"Chad come on, I didn't mean it. You know I love it just as much as you." Gabriella desperately tried telling Chad, when he turned round with a smirk on his face. "Chad that wasn't fair, I thought I really hurt you their and you made me accept that your afro is important!"

"Chillax Gabs, it was only a joke" Chad laughed while Gabriella smiled at him, she couldn't stay mad at Chad for long. She then looked over at Troy who was watching her with a smile on his face, but she couldn't ignore the two cheerleaders attached to his sides. She then realised that Taylor was getting a bit impatient and frustrated so made up an excuse and the girls left the canteen.

**Remember Read and Review :) Thanks xx**


	5. AN : Important

HI!

I need **HELP!**

I have **No** idea where this is going.

**NO IDEA WHAT SO EVER.**

So I need help with an idea, it could be something like **killing off Darbus** or **Jack being raped by Jason** (don't ask).

But I despratley **need Need NEED** an idea.

**_PLZ PLZ PLZ!_**


	6. Rainbow Uggs And Moses Sandals

**(A/N: So after many very short chapters, I decided to do a long chapter, well long for me anyway. **

**It is currently 2 am in the mrning and it's half term holidays, sadly it's Friday meaning only two more dayd left :(**

**I think I have a plot for this story now but still welcome to ideas.**

**Big THANK YOU to scentedjasmines for a grea idea and for reviewing- you are a life saver.**

**Thank You, please read and review.;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or "Number 1" by N'Dubz.**

* * *

**Chapter Five**

**Rainbow Uggs And Moses Sandals**

"Gabriella, come on. We need to go now!" Taylor screamed into her mobile phone.

"OK, OK, I'm coming." Gabriella replied whilst putting on her ballet type pumps and putting on some lip gloss. Once she had given herself a check over in the mirror in front of the front door, she quickly opened it, locked it and ran out to the restless Taylor in the car.

Once in the car, Taylor asked her, "Seriously Gabs, what took so long? Martha and Kelsi are already there."

"I'm sorry Taylor, it's just that Marco was being a nuisance again, hiding my stuff. Honestly him and his retar-", Gabriella just stopped.

"What's wrong?" Taylor looked over at her friend who just seemed to be thinking over something.

"Oh crap Taylor. I was supposed to watch over the brat and his annoying friend. I'm so sorry Tay, seriously I am." Gabriella said existing the car.

"Hey Gabs, you've hardly been in town over vacation and I think the last time we went out was like months back. So..." Taylor looked as if she were fighting internally with herself over this. "... I am prepared to take your brat of a brother and his friend with us."

"Tay you don't need to do that, seriously."

"Nope Gabs I am doing it. Anything so you can get out of there. Here's the plan: We buy them each some popcorn and a drink and put them into one of the Harry Potter movie marathons down in the cinema. When there finished, they'll simply call us, and while there watching the movies we'll be roaming round the mall. That fair enough?" Taylor asked pleadingly.

Gabriella really was deliberating this. "Hmmmm, Tay... if you're up for it then why not."

Gabriella returned to the front door and opened it to find the two 13 year olds sitting on the stairs playing with their Nintendo DSi's. "Oi, you two. Now this, I am only telling you once, so listen closely 'cause this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We, as in Tay and me, are prepared to pay for both of you to go watch the Harry Potter movie marathon down in the cinema. And if you are good, then you will be treated to Maccy-D's. Got it?" Gabriella kept a monotone voice throughout her proposal to the two boys in front of her. To be totally honest, she couldn't give a damn other than the fact that they were alive and breathing.

"Popcorn and drinks included?" Her brother asked in a curious voice.

"Yes." The two boys ran out under Gabriella's arm which was still connected to the door and into the back of Taylor's car.

She locked the door yet again and re-entered the car and sat next to Taylor in the front passenger seat. "Are you both strapped in back there?" Taylor asked the two boys.

The answer came in unison and Taylor started the engine and was reversing out of the Montez's drive. "Hey sis, how come we never see Troy anymore?" Marco asked.

"Yeah I know. He is like the coolest dude in the world!" Craig joined in.

"Hey, hey, both of you zip it. Ground rules: Number one, **(A/N: "I don't understand how you're Number 1, It was just a fling before now your Number 1. From my homey to my only, Number 1!" Sorry had to do that :P)** car journeys, you will be completely silent. Number two, you will not act like brats in front of our friends. And number three; never talk about Troy, OK?" Gabriella gave them both cold stares through the mirror in the sunshade.

"Yeah, but sis-" Marco was beginning to say.

"Zip it. Not a word." Gabriella told them both.

Gabriella turned to Taylor's stereo and turned it to Galaxy FM **(A/N: Sorry, only radio station I know.)** where currently Ne-Yo's "Miss Independent" was on.

The rest of the car journey went smoothly with less frequent outbursts by the terrible twins in the back and cold stares to shut them up.

They made it to the mall in just under half an hour as they had hit traffic halfway through. They met up with the girls out front who had nothing but stares for Gabriella and Taylor for making them wait outside in the cold for so long.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I was stuck with the terrible twosome. But, me and Tay came up with a plan so it's alright." Gabriella told the girls as they walked into one of the multiple entrances. They chatted animatedly over some weird new rainbow coloured uggs and Moses sandals.

* * *

The boys had been following the girls until they saw something the fancied. With a sly look on their face they ran for the gaming shop, "Game". The girls had walked just a bit further when Gabriella looked behind her to check on the boys when she saw they weren't there.

"Those stupid assholes!" This caught the attention of the rest of the friends and they looked behind them to find out why Gabriella had stopped in the middle of the mall.

"What-" Taylor started but couldn't finish.

"They've ran off somewhere. I knew it was a bad idea Tay. Please guys can you help me look for them?" All the while Gabriella looked out across the many hundreds of people walking past her.

"Those little. Urgh. I'll go towards the Green Mall Gabs." With that, Kelsi walk/ran away.

"I'll check the Blue Mall and the Central. They couldn't have gone far." Martha went the opposite way to Kelsi.

"Gabs, I'll take the Yellow and the Red. Text if you see anything." And off Taylor went as well.

* * *

Gabriella was stood in the middle of the White Mall and the Food Court was nearby. She started walking then running in and out of shops. _Where the hell have they gone? _She checked most of the shops in the White Mall and ran over to the Food Court. On the way there, she accidently bumped into a guy who looked not older than herself. He was tall and quite handsome with short black hair and green eyes. Gabriella was sure she had seen him before somewhere, but now was not the time.

"I'm sorry." Gabriella apologised to the boy and just as she was going to turn away he called out to her.

"You look like you're in a hurry. What's the problem?" Gabriella thought about it for a second, this complete or maybe not so complete stranger was asking what was wrong, should she tell him or shouldn't she. She finally decided the more people looking the less time it would take, hopefully.

"Well you see my dweeb of a brother and his equally stupid friend; have just so happened to run off, whilst switching their phones off. I wouldn't give a damn normally but my brothers got a rare medical problem and am just scared." Gabriella told him.

"OK, how old are they and what do they look like?" She couldn't believe this stranger was helping her.

"Erm, Marco, my brother, is 13 and has brown curly hair to just under his ear and he has brown eyes. He's about this tall" She made a hand gesture to show how tall Marco was. "and was wearing a red hoodie with Evisu on it. His friend Craig is the same height and has blonde spiky hair, grey eyes and wear glasses. He was wearing a NY cap." Gabriella replied whilst looking round at the crowd.

"Have you checked down the White Mall?" The handsome stranger asked.

"Yes, well most of the shops." Gabriella replied.

"Did you check in 'Game', because that's were most teenage boys like to go." He replied.

"No. I don't think so."

"Well, let's go check there." With that, the handsome stranger led Gabriella over to 'Game'.

* * *

**Meanwhile...**

"Hey Hoops." Chad walked up to his best friend and slapped him on the head in a playful way.

"Hey. So we're just about to order. What do you want?" Troy asked Chad who was currently pulling out a white plastic chair to sit on in the Food Court. It had been a strenuous work out down in the gym so the boys just couldn't be bothered anymore.

"Erm... I don't know." Chad replied after a lot of thought.

The waitress had come over by then and she went to Chad first. "So Sir, what would you like to order?"

"I would like a quarter pounder with extra cheese, no make it two quarter pounders with extra cheese, an extra large portion of curly chips, an extra large portion of normal chips, a double chocolate cookie, a apple pie, a jam donut, a chocolate milkshake and an extra large diet coke. Thank you." Chad smiled at the lazy who looked flabbergasted.

"Whoa man, what happened to your staying healthy routine?" Troy asked his bushy haired friend.

"What, I got a diet coke!" Chad defended himself.

Once the woman had gotten over Chad's interesting order, she was thankful the rest of the boys were not like there peculiar friend.

As soon as the waitress walked away, the boys threw themselves into a heated discussion over Lebron and Shaq.

Jason who had been sitting in his own little world for most of the discussion was now staring at someone in particular.

"Hey Troy, ain't that Gabi over there?" All heads turned to the direction of the girl standing in the middle of the Mall looking round furiously as if she were trying to find something.

"But who's that with her?" Zeke asked as he had noticed the back of a tall boy facing towards her, presumably talking to her.

He turned his face towards the side. "Isn't that fucking Brian Seymour?" Chad asked.

"What the hell is he doing here? He knows this is Wildcat territory." Zeke replied.

"Wait isn't he the captain of the Knight's?" Jason asked dazedly.

Jason got a smack round his head along with a long string of profanities from the boys surrounding the table. "Hey dude, were they going?" Chad was curious.

"I don't know." Troy was getting irritated by seeing his mortal enemy with his girlfriend. They were soon running back down the length of the mall.

* * *

**Meanwhile...**

They ran into 'Game' and started searching for the two young boys around the dimly lit store crowded with mostly teenage boys. There in the back of the store, Gabriella could make out a NY baseball cap.

Gabriella and the stranger fought their way to the back were they found one of the boys kneeling over the laid out body of the other. Her hand went straight to her mouth as she tried to fight away tears. Her little brother lay unconscious on the floor.

She knelt down and was relieved to find a pulse although it was a slow pulse. She looked over at the stranger who looked from her to Marco and picked Marco up into his arms. They along with Craig exited the store and went over to a nearby bench. The stranger placed Marco onto the bench and looked at Gabriella who had tears rolling out of her eyes.

* * *

**Meanwhile...**

Troy had had enough of his friends talking about his girlfriend and Brian that he simply got up and started walking over to where Gabriella had been. Chad, sensing that Troy was in a tense mood, decided to follow him.

"Hey, wait up man!" Chad called out to Troy.

Troy didn't reply as he was too busy trying to figure out which way Gabriella and Brian had gone. He finally decided to walk towards the end of the White Mall. Chad followed in suite wondering where Troy was leading him.

Up ahead, Troy could see a figure of a tall person with what seemed to be a child in his arms. He started to walk faster. The figures where a lot more clear and Troy could see Gabriella and her little brother's friend Craig right behind the tall figure.

As they drew nearer, Troy could sense something was wrong as he could see Gabriella was upset and even though he couldn't tell from where he was but she looked as if she were crying. Troy ran over to where they were standing and saw Marco lying on the bench with Brian checking his pulse.

"Oh shit. No!" Troy said barely above a whisper. He walked forward and placed an arm around Gabriella's waist and pulled her towards him. She was startled but once she looked up, she willingly accepted the embrace. She held onto him for what felt like an eternity.

He looked down at her and could see the fear in her eyes. He looked behind him and called out to Chad. "Chad! Call the ambulance right now. Say it's an emergency; it could mean life or death."

Chad quickly obeyed whilst Troy let go of Gabriella, only holding on to her hand as she went over to the bench. Her little brother was wavering between life and death and she couldn't do anything.

* * *

**(A/N: So please please please review. I won't put up a new chapter unless there are 2/3 new reviews :P)**


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